Abstract

Background

We sought to assess self-rated importance of the medical interview to clinical practice
and competence in physician-patient communication among new internal medicine faculty
at an academic medical center.

Methods

Since 2001, new internal medicine faculty at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine (Rochester,
Minnesota) have completed a survey on physician-patient communication. The survey
asks the new faculty to rate their overall competence in medical interviewing, the
importance of the medical interview to their practice, their confidence and adequacy
of previous training in handling eight frequently encountered challenging communication
scenarios, and whether they would benefit from additional communication training.

Results

Between 2001 and 2004, 75 general internists and internal medicine subspecialists
were appointed to the faculty, and of these, 58 (77%) completed the survey. The faculty
rated (on a 10-point scale) the importance of the medical interview higher than their
competence in interviewing; this difference was significant (average ± SD, 9.4 ± 1.0
vs 7.7 ± 1.2, P < .001). Similar results were obtained by sex, age, specialty, years since residency
or fellowship training, and perceived benefit of training. Experienced faculty rated
their competence in medical interviewing and the importance of the medical interview
higher than recent graduates (ie, less than one year since training). For each challenging
communication scenario, the new faculty rated the adequacy of their previous training
in handling the scenario relatively low. A majority (57%) said they would benefit
from additional communication training.

Conclusion

Although new internal medicine faculty rate high the importance of the medical interview,
they rate their competence and adequacy of previous training in medical interviewing
relatively low, and many indicate that they would benefit from additional communication
training. These results should encourage academic medical centers to make curricula
in physician-patient communication available to their faculty members because many
of them not only care for patients, but also teach clinical skills, including communication
skills, to trainees.